The fourth planet in the system is a rocky world, while the second and third ones are gas planets.

A newly studied solar system breaks the usual planet pattern, raising fresh questions about how rocky and gas planets form.

EVANSTON, Ill. — Except for the fact that we call it home, for centuries astronomers didn’t have any particular reason to believe that our solar system was anything special in the universe. But, ...

What can rocky planets orbiting in the outer parts of a solar system teach scientists about planetary formation and evolution? This is what a recent study | Space ...

Our solar system’s origin story spans billions of years and involves clouds of gas, cosmic collisions, and planetary migrations that shaped the worlds we know today. While it may seem intuitive that ...

When the Sun runs out of hydrogen fuel and expands into a red giant, it will eventually encompass the innermost planets of the solar system, out to about Earth’s orbit. Being closer to our enlarged ...

Planets orbiting dead stars known as white dwarfs might be able to remain habitable thanks to general relativity subtly altering their motion. When stars like our sun run out of fuel, they expand and ...

A quest for life in the cosmos has given astronomer and astrobiologist Dr. Aomawa Shields new perspective on a meaningful life on Earth. The following is an excerpt from Life on Other Planets: A ...